The leadership map at the new Skydance-owned television operation just shifted again. Channing Dungey, already in charge of Warner Bros. Television Group and its US networks, has added oversight of Paramount’s cable brands—MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and BET—to her responsibilities.
In a staff memo on Tuesday, Dungey said it was time to “turn the page and begin a new chapter.” She will report to George Cheeks and JB Perrette, the co-chairs of Skydance TV. Dungey had already taken on Warner Bros. Discovery’s networks—Discovery Channel, TLC, HGTV and Food Network—at the start of 2025.
The new layer puts one executive across a broad linear portfolio and the studio that supplies originals to streamers. For media buyers, that makes this more than an internal org-chart story: it shapes how content flows from production to platform.
What the slate carries
The memo framed the expansion around current momentum. Since the start of the year, the studio has locked:
- 13 new series orders
- 13 renewals
- More than 80 titles across more than 20 platforms
That roster includes Apple’s Ted Lasso, HBO Max’s The Pitt, Netflix’s Running Point and HBO Max’s Lanterns, which Dungey said ranks among the top five series launches in the streamer’s history. She also named two studio leaders she expects to work with: Matt Thunell, President of Paramount Television Studios, and David Stapf, President of CBS Studios.
Why planners should watch
The four added brands are not interchangeable. Nickelodeon is a kids-and-family engine, BET speaks to Black audiences, and Comedy Central and MTV are young-adult brands. Combined with Discovery, TLC, HGTV and Food Network, the portfolio stretches across very different buying segments.
But coordination is not yet a strategy. Dungey was direct about the lack of clarity, writing: “I don’t have all the answers today — some things will come into focus quickly, while others will take more time to figure out.” She acknowledged that staff are arriving with “mixed emotions” as Co-CEOs David Ellison and Ynon Kreiz look for savings.
Her memo closes by asking teams to make the transition “as smooth and positive as possible” and to build a future that is “bigger and better than ever.” The practical read for now: track renewal decisions, platform assignments and ad sales moves rather than assume the cable brands will immediately operate as one unit.
Source: Deadline
